Jet Airways Apologizes For Pet’s Death

Jet Airways has issued a lengthy statement and apology to the owner of a cat that died before boarding a flight from New Delhi to Singapore last Saturday.

The statement, posted on Facebook Wednesday, gives details of Jet Airways’ two-day investigation into the death of the cat, called James Dean. The airline had released a shorter statement Monday.

The investigation found that the cat had forced itself out its container as it was being taken on a trolley to the aircraft for loading. It says the animal had pushed the wire mesh on its container and escaped through a gap. CCTV footage on the tarmac area shows the pet jumping from the vehicle and being hit by another trolley travelling in the opposite direction, the statement says.

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In an interview with India Real Time earlier this week, Ms. Varma said she’d put an extra wire around the cage. She had demanded an apology from Jet Airlines. She couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.

Jet Airways’ latest statement said nobody had tampered with the container or its lock.

The statement gives details of the day, from when Ms. Varma arrived at the airport to the point when airline staff informed her of the death of her pet and she decided not to take the flight.

Jet Airways said Ms. Varma had used a standard container and that the correct processes were adhered to while handling the cat at the check-in counter, the x-ray screening process, and the transfer from the check-in counter to the trolley and loading area.

After checking herself in, Ms. Varma accompanied staff to a screening machine where she was required to hold the cat as the empty container was x-rayed. At this point, James Dean managed to escape from Ms. Varma and hid under the x-ray machine. It was retrieved after the airport operator’s maintenance team dismantled part of the rollers of the machine.

“At no stage of this exercise was any stick or any similar device used to retrieve the pet. CCTV footage which was shared with Ms. Varma also confirms the same,” the statement said. Ms. Varma put the cat back in the container, which was locked and cross-checked by staff, it added.

“When the trolley carrying the container reached the aircraft, the loading supervisor noticed that the container was empty… While the search was on, our teams were informed by the airport workers on the tarmac that a cat had been run over,” the statement said.

“By the time our teams arrived at the accident site, the pet had passed away,” it said, adding that airport operators don’t provide veterinary services.

Airline staff couldn’t take Ms. Varma to the accident site because of security restrictions. But she was able to look at CCTV footage after permission was obtained from the airport security officials.

The statement added that Jet Airways has launched a global review of procedures used by airlines and airport operators and will try to “implement all enhancements that will prevent occurrences of such incidents.”

Jet Airways said it has also rebriefed its airport teams on handling procedures.

“We wish to assure all our guests and animal lovers, that we have always benchmarked processes with international best practices and follow global handling procedures,” the airline said.

“The demise of James Dean is indeed sad and tragic. We truly understand Ms. Varma’s feelings and share her sorrow and if the actions of any members of our team came across as insensitive at any point in time, we would like to assure that this was unintentional and would like to apologise,” it added.

Jet Airways said it has tried to contact Ms. Varma personally, to no avail.

“We are sincerely making all efforts to reach out to Ms. Varma personally and sharing our grief caused by the loss of James Dean,” it said.

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